Friday, February 29, 2008

last year at marienbad - alain resnais - 1961

One of the most enigmatic and distinctive films ever made, Last Year At Marienbad (L’Année Dernière à Marienbad) is an astounding collaboration between director Alain Resnais (Night and Fog) and leading French novelist Alain Robbe-Grille. n a vast and opulent hotel, an unnamed man (Giorgio Albertazzi) attempts to persuade a similarly unnamed married woman (Delphine Seyrig) that they have not only met before, but that they were also romantically involved and had planned to elope together. The woman recalls no such encounter and so begins a sensual and philosophical examination into the uncertainty of truth.

Strikingly composed and beautifully shot in Cinemascope by Sacha Vierny, Last Year at Marienbad represents a key moment in the development of cinematic modernism. Writer Alain Robbe-Grillet’s screenplay merges chronology to radically blur the boundaries of reality and fantasy and he was nominated for an Oscar for his work on this film. A seductive and utterly fascinating cinematic puzzle, Last Year in Marienbad has been astonishing audiences since its release in 1961.


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